Medium-size Cities Feeling Gang Terror

March 03, 1985|By George Papajohn

The phone call came from a horrified elementary school principal.

``He has 10 2d graders claiming to be gang members and claiming to be marking off their turf in school and doing all the gang graffiti,`` the detective who handled the call recounted. ``These people are 7 and 8 years old.``

The detective could have been from Chicago, describing just another example of gang activity here.

He was, in fact, Wayne Hoffman of Rockford, and his story underscored an often overlooked aspect of urban gang problems today. Street gangs and the violence they cause are not limited to large, metropolitan regions. They have become facts of life in many medium-size cities as well.

That point was stressed during a two-day symposium on gangs in Illinois held last week at Chicago`s Americana Congress Hotel.

``None of us share Chicago`s problem,`` East St. Louis Mayor Carl Officer said during one panel discussion. ``But we all have a problem that could become equal to Chicago`s.``

The conference, which drew about 300 civic leaders, law enforcement officials, social workers and educators from more than two dozen cities, was sponsored by the Illinois Juvenile Justice Commission and the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS).

Representatives from Rockford, East St. Louis, Peoria and Joliet took part in a panel discussion on gang problems in medium-size cities. According to statistics presented at the conference, gang activities in those cities extend beyond graffiti.

-- In Joliet about 400 youths are reportedly involved in at least six gangs. In the last three months, police report 19 gang-related shootings.

-- In East St. Louis, there are said to be about 600 gang members. Police logged four gang-related homicides last year.

-- In Peoria, some of the older members of two gangs are suspected of dealing drugs, and 13 youths were indicted recently in the beating of a rival gang member.

-- In Rockford, police report about 400 members in eight gangs. Although there have been no gang-related fatalities, 10 teenage gang members have been charged with attempted murder in the last year. Two weeks ago, one gang leader was shot through the stomach.

``They`re not as sophisticated as in Chicago,`` said Hoffman. ``They`re not as dedicated as they are in Chicago. But we have a lot of violent acts between gangs, whether it be shootings, stabbings or whatever.``

Some of these blue-collar towns had gang problems in the past, participants noted, but they came under control in the 1970s. Over the last two to four years, however, gangs have re-emerged as a force, and some participants linked this to economic decline.

``These have been the cities that have been hurt the most in the recession and in the change from an industrial economy,`` said Peter Digre, a former DCFS official who left eight months ago to work in Philadelphia.

``One of the main counterforces to gang involvement is entry into the adult world, and employment is the ticket to entry. And employment is not there.``

During the symposium Thursday and Friday, police from smaller cities said Chicago gang members influence local teenagers in prisons or move into town and set up gangs.

Even though most gangs in other cities have adopted the names of Chicago gangs, there appears to be no evidence of any formal alliances, officials said.

A juvenile detective from Champaign reported that the university town is seeing some early signs of gang activity. Detective James Luecking said two gangs are intimidating high school students and some members carry guns on the street.